A rubber band gun is a toy gun used to fire one or more rubber bands (or “elastic loop bands”). Typically, in such guns, a rubber band is stretched and retained lengthwise along the barrel of the gun and a trigger mechanism is provided for releasing the rearward end of the stretched rubber band so that the band is projected from the muzzle end of the barrel.
One type of prior art gun includes a repeater (or revolver) rubber band gun that is capable of firing 10 or more rubber bands, semi-automatically. The repeater rubber band gun is usually made of wood, and has a plastic firing mechanism, consisting of a toothed cogwheel onto which the bands are hooked. A band is hooked around the front or nozzle of the barrel, and stretched back to the first tooth of the cogwheel. The wheel is turned backward one notch, and the next band is hooked on. Once all teeth on the wheel are loaded, the gun is ready to fire. A trigger releases the wheel by one notch launching or releasing a rubber band. Every time the trigger is pulled a rubber band is launched until there are no more rubber bands to launch. However, this prior art gun is difficult to operate as loading and firing of the gun is complicated.
Another type of prior art gun includes a Gatling gun consisting of between 3 and 12 repeater rubber band guns arranged on a cylindrical rotor. The rotor rotates and each individual barrel is fired as it reaches the top of its locus. To rotate the rotor, an individual manually rotates a crank handle. However, this prior art gun is also difficult to operate as the loading and firing of the gun is complicated.
Consequently, a rubber band gun is needed that is easy to load and fire.